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Learn to Resist (the Charleston chapter) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on the self-defense aspect of jiu jitsu (and other martial arts). Meetings will hopefully be held at the downtown YMCA in Charleston (on Cannon Street) once all of the details have been sorted out. In the meantime, we will likely be meeting at parks in downtown Charleston. Stay tuned for details.

The name "Learn to Resist" is supposed to highlight all of the things we need to combat as individuals and as a society--sexual harassment, sexual assault, misogyny, gender inequity, homophobia, bullying, xenophobia, discrimination, ignorance, intolerance, temptation, self-doubt, and even self-loathing. The goal of Learn to Resist is to transform the lives of individuals as well as changing the beliefs and attitudes of society. By teaching self-defense, counter-violence, and counter-aggression to at risk youth and adults, we hope to provide people with the tools they need to fight the injustices that are all too common these days (on playgrounds as well as in the workplace). We started Learn to Resist because we believe in the transformative power of jiu jitsu and we are committed to using it to make the world a better and safer place. So, please join us in our mission!

Learn to Resist has two practical goals: (a) host free self-defense classes for youth and women in the Charleston area, and (b) host seminars with nationally and internationally recognized jiu jitsukas (which will help fund the free classes). I am also hoping to team up with some psychologists in the area to offer jiu jitsu to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. But first things first! If you live in the area, please consider joining us. We're coming to beaches, parks, and community centers near you! If you'd like to help, please drop me a line!

10/05/2017

Learn to Resist has partnered up with Devine Jiu Jitsu Charleston to host a six-week women's self defense workshop. So far, we have grandmothers and 7-year old daughters planning to attend (and everyone in between). We should have a solid group of women and girls attending. You're more than welcome to join us. It's open and free to the public. Here is the schedule:

Six-week Women’s Self Defense seminar:

Sunday October 22nd from 3:00-4:30 pm Sunday October 29th from 3:00-4:30 pm Sunday November 5th from 3:00-4:30 pm Sunday November 12th from 3:00-4:30 pm Sunday November 19th from 3:00-4:30 pm Sunday December 3rd from 3:00-4:30 pm

Where: Meetings will take place at Devine Jiu Jitsu on James Island. Located at 327 Folly Road, Suite A, Charleston, SC 29412.

If you have any questions, you can contact me at tnadelhoffer@gmail.com

Feel free to bring your mothers, your daughters, your coworkers and anyone else who might be interested. It will be a solid introduction to the self defense aspect of Brazilian jiu jitsu.

08/19/2016

So, we have settled on a time and place for the women's self defense seminar being offered by Seth Shamp--a Royce Gracie black belt and the owner of Triangle Jiu Jitsu. Hopefully, this is the first of many seminars to come. So stay tuned! In the meantime, please help me spread the word for this event! Here is the official FB events page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1122560907800212/

Also, here is the flier for the event. Please send it to any friends and family members who may be interested!

08/11/2016

I am very excited to announce that a good friend and former instructor of mine is coming to town during the weekend of September 16th-18th. Seth Shamp is a Royce Gracie black belt, a fierce competitor, and the coach of world champions. So, I am delighted that he is going to be giving a seminar on self-defense on Saturday the 17th (location and time to be determined).

While his two hour seminars are usually $50, he has offered to do this seminar for free as a way of helping to promote this group and help women (and men) in the area deepen their knowledge of self defense. But to cover his expenses, we're hoping people will be able to donate what they can. Please let me know if you're interested and available (and what time works best for you). This will help me plan accordingly in terms of lining up a location!

If you'd like to know more about Seth and his academy, see here for details!

07/29/2016

First, the crowd funding is coming along better than expected. So, thanks to all of my friends, family, and colleagues who have donated to the cause! Second, I plan to order mats next week. I will be purchasing a 20 x 20 square of roll up mats from AK Athletic Equipment like this one:

While these mats are more expensive than the puzzle mats I originally planned to purchase ($1,600), they come in four pieces, so it will be a snap to set up and break down no matter where we train. Finally, I also made some very basic tee shirts (one for men, one for women). On the front, they say "Lowcountry Self Defense Club" and on the back they say "Learn to Resist"! So, if you want to help me spread the word, buy a shirt and wear it out in public. You can purchase them here and here. The shirts are available in wide variety of colors. No matter which color you pick, you'll be surprised how many people ask you about our fledgling club. I wear jiu jitsu shirts all the time and they often serve as conversation pieces.

OK, that's it for now. Hopefully, I will order the mats early next week. So, stay tuned!

07/20/2016

In order to get the Learn to Resist up and running, I am going to need a little help from my friends and family near and far. So, I have made a Go Fund Me page ( see below). If you can help, every dollar will be put to good use. I really hope that this club can serve as a template for other cities when it comes to sharing self defense techniques with the masses for free. But I need some help getting things started. If you don't like the idea of crowd funding, I respect your opinion (even if it differs from my own). But I don't feel like having an argument about it. Either help if you can or let this pass by in silence. Harassing or trolling me for reaching out for assistance is not productive. I am not trying to use this money to send myself to tournaments or benefit myself somehow. Rather, I am trying to drum up some start up funds to make my dream possible--namely, sharing Gracie-style self defense with people in the lowcountry for free. Unfortunately, making this dream a reality is not free for me. And while I will be spending a substantive amount of my own money during the course of the next year, getting some initial funding would speed up the process. So, thanks in advance!

07/19/2016

While I love jiu jitsu, I am convinced that as a general rule women have more to gain from the gentle art than men--especially given the depressing statistics concerning how many women are sexually assaulted in childhood, in college, and beyond. While women bear positively no responsibility for being victimized, jiu jitsu is nevertheless a very effective tool that can be utilized to minimize the risks posed to women by the lamentable "rape culture" we live in today.

As such, I thought I would post links to some women-related articles and videos in an effort to highlight the important place I believe women ought to occupy today when it comes to the continued development and growth of jiu jitsu. As these articles and videos make clear, women shouldn't be relegated to self-defense classes. Instead, they should additionally be encouraged to explore all that jiu jitsu has to offer. That said, here are some links people might find of interest:

As for videos, I thought I would include a tribute to women in jiu jitsu as well as some highlight videos from some of the top women in the sport--e.g., Kyra Gracie, Michelle Nicoloni, Mackenzie Dern, Marina Ribeiro, and Leticia Ribeiro:

Three of my good friends and training partners have been developing and teaching a women's self defense class here at College of Charleston for the past few semesters (kudos to Pat McGuigan, John Venable, and Amy Langville for their important work on this front). The program has been a huge success. Their curriculum is based on traditional Gracie self-defense and they also include some good mobility work and ginastica natural. The class has proved to be both popular (as indicated by high enrollments) and transformative (as indicated by what the students say in their evaluations and workbooks). Given that nearly 70% of the students here at College of Charleston are women and given the prevalence of rape on campuses nationwide (e.g., an astounding 1 in 5 women report having been the victim of rape or attempted rate during college), I think this type of program is ideally suited for our campus (and other campuses around the country). I also think it's the kind of program that should be tailored and adopted by high schools, junior high schools, and even elementary schools.

I do, however, have a gripe with how the women's self defense program is classified here at CofC--namely, as a P.E. course. By my lights, this sends the wrong message--namely, that training women how to help prevent themselves from being raped is somehow akin to other courses such as sailing, surfing, or dancing. Rather than being a P.E. course taken for credit, I think the women's self defense program should play a more prominent role in the ethos of the college. Indeed, as the course is presently offered, only seniors can take it! But wouldn't it make more sense for incoming freshmen to have the opportunity to take the course as well? Moreover, what about female faculty, staff, and the daughters of faculty and staff? Shouldn't they, too, have access to this type of program? I think the obvious answer is "yes." Hopefully, in the coming months, we can convince the college to rethink how they approach the women's self defense program.

In the meantime, I want to address a common criticism of these types of programs that I hear from time to time which I think is misguided--namely, that the entire rational behind rape prevention programs is wrong-headed. One woman even became a Youtube sensation for airing a similar objection. The charge here is that these programs are premised on the idea that women are somehow responsible for preventing themselves from being raped--which, is taken to be a way of tacitly blaming of the victims of rape for not doing more in their own defense. Instead, so the critics argue, men should be trained not to rape. In short, the worry is that as well-intentioned as these programs may be, they send the wrong message to the wrong demographic. On this view, women shouldn't need jiu jitsu to make themselves safe. Rather, men need to learn to respect the rights and autonomy of women and not treat women as mere sexual objects.

To me, this is a blatant false disjunct--that is, the reasoning here fallaciously assumes that either women should be taught how to defend themselves from predators or men should be taught not to be predators. Clearly these two aims are not incompatible (see here for a video that makes similar points). Moreover, I don't think that focusing on empowering women detracts from the importance of teaching boys from a young age how to have healthier (and less morally monstrous) attitudes towards women when they grow up. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of faith that our paternalistic and misogynistic society will make much progress in the short term when it comes to properly educating (and reeducating) men.

That's not to say that we shouldn't continue to try to make progress on this important front, it's just to say that in the meantime, women (especially on college campuses) will continue to find themselves in the midst of predators. Worse still, these predators are encouraged and even protected by the rape culture that is endemic to many campuses around the country (for those who deny we have created a rape culture, see here). So, while we wait to turn the tide on our country's misogynist ways, we should do what we can to prepare women to confront the threats lurking around them in the here and now. Jiu jitsu works (see here for a recent example). So, it's a great vehicle for empowering women. Let's start treating it as such (rather than simply treating it like any other P.E. class).

Well, that's it for now. If you agreed with what I've said, then do what you can as a jiu jitsu practitioner to empower women and make the world a less dangerous place. I have embedded some videos below for motivation!

p.p.s. I should point out that while I wish CofC would expand upon and improve the women's self defense program, they deserve a lot of credit for even starting the program in the first place. Even if I don't think the program should be limited to seniors or treated as a P.E. course, at least the college had both the vision and willingness to move things in the right direction (e.g., new mats were not cheap!)--which is more than can be said for most colleges around the country.

Here is a nice video showing women using the self defense aspects of jiu jitsu:

Here is an old school video which highlights how little progress we've made (given that most women still don't know jiu jitsu all these years later):

Here is a video of one of the best jiu jitsu matches I have ever seen--which happened at this year's World Championship between Michelle Nicolini and Mackenzie Dern:

Finally, for those who think this wouldn't work in a real world situation, here is a great explanation of how to defend against a person who is between your legs and trying to choke you with both hands:

When I am training less--as is lamentably presently the case--I try to offset the time away as much as possible by watching videos, reading instructional manuals, reading up on my history of the art, etc. Fortunately, the interwebs provides we grapplers with no shortage of motivational and/or informative videos about the gentle art. So, to celebrate our embarrassment of video-graphic riches, I thought I would compile some of my own favorite videos. If nothing else, it keeps me from having to search the next time I am needing motivation!

First up, a few highlight compilations and motivational videos I always liked:

This last video with Caio Terra always chokes up even a grumpy ol' grappler like me. That said, you can find several documentaries below the fold!